Rumors and Stuff

By CHARLES WILLIAMS

Some people are having trouble with the speech capabilities of
AmigaVision. Is appears that speech becomes very poor when used at the same
time as a hi-res screen because the DMA cycles required to keep the screen
refreshed eat into the DMA cycles required for effective speech. The solution
is to switch to a medium or low-res screen when using speech. The latest
version of AmigaVision is 1.53G and is being distributed with the A3000
packages. The first version (the one I have) is 1.31. It seems that the
earlier version had some compatibility problems with AmigaDOS 2.0. Also,
other improvements were made, including an improved Application Diskette
Creator. There are also rumors of an AmigaVision 2.0, perhaps to come with
the eventual release of AmigaDOS 2.0.

Commodore recently released the Amiga 3000 workstation running the new
AT&T Unix version 5.4. Initial impressions are favorable. It seems
adequately fast, and the package they are offering universities is an
excellent one. The basic system seems to be an A3000/25, a 100M hard disk and
4M of RAM onboard is needed. Although XWindows will run in 4M (virtual
memory), the performance is poor and 8M is really needed (including 2M chip
RAM. Free upgrades will be provided for a least a year. Amiga Unix will be an
everchanging thing, constantly being changed and improved.

In AmiEXPO news, AmiEXPO will become AmigaWorld EXPO and has announced
their third annual Art and Video Contest. At the latest Expo, Progressive
Peripherals & Software (PP&S) was showing their 68040 board, which
offers an option of hardware compression of disk files. This could
effectively more than double the storage capacity of ALL disk drives. In some
instances, a speed advantage is gained using the compressed files
which means that compression and decompression is FAST. This board is
supposedly finished (just waiting on Motorola to deliver more stable 040's).
Expect these by Christmas and the price will be about $1300 with the data
compression option board.

Although not yet shipping (maybe by the time you read this) is the much
acclaimed 24 bit color gadget DCTV by Digital Creations. DCTV will cost about
$400, includes a slick paint program and will allow you to paint in full NTSC
16 million colors. DCTV reports to do 24 bit digitizing or 8 bit gray scale
in 6 seconds. This could be the club's new DigiView. I'm going to recommend a
serious look at DCTV for a future club hardware purchase, but first we should
immediately upgrade the club's A500 to include a 1 meg agnus chip
and a total of 5 megs of RAM. Then we look at DCTV. Let the officers know
what you think, else we'll be spending your money without any input from
you.

I've heard hints of a new little gadget from Germany that amounts to three
or four chips mounted on a 68000 which replaces your original 68000. It's a
286 mounted on a 68000, runs at 8MHz, and runs on its own screen. Price is
under $400. The price sounds just right to be a BrigdeBoard killer.

This is for all of you Amiga 3000 users out there. If you've been having
trouble with Tiger Cub or Falcon, try the command "setcpu nocache
noburst".

From Ed Bilson, this report of Amigas in the September issue of Computer-
Aided Engineering magazine. Pennsylvania State University located Rob Fisher,
an MIT graduate in Humanities and Engineering, environmental sculptor, and a
pioneer in CAD application to large-scale sculpture. School officials felt
Fisher was ideally suited to bridge what they felt was a cultural gap between
art and engineering. He uses a Commodore Amiga 2500 to rotate designs and
visualize perspectives.

For Fisher the sculptor, computer graphics simulation replaces the need
for costly and time-consuming scale models. For Fisher the engineer, this
technology speeds the long process between idea-generation and customer
approval.

Penn State students learn to digitize still images on the computer as
preproduction design. By connecting the computer to a video camera, students
capture a photo or slide of an image and render a proposed design on that
image, print it, and present it.

Penn State computer labs house 14 Amiga 500, 2000, and 2500 computers -
some with up to five megabytes of RAM. Thanks for this information, Ed.

MAGazine

MAGazine is published monthly by the Memphis Amiga Group (MAG), a
non-profit organization offering assistance to fellow Amiga owners and those
interested in the Amiga. Membership in MAG is available for an annual fee of
$20 per family.

MAG Meetings

The November general meeting of the Memphis Amiga Group will be held
Saturday, Nov. 10 from 1 P.M. until approximately 3 P.M. in the New
Auditorium on the campus of State Technical Institute of Memphis (see map at
left).

The Memphis Amiga Group (MAG) holds general meetings the second Saturday
of each month in the New Auditorium.

Details on the November disk-of-the-month were unavailable at press time.
If you are interested or even have any software requests, just give Bill a
call at the number listed below.

There is an officers meeting scheduled during the half hour before the
meeting. Come join the fun!

Hardware Rentals

FutureSound audio digitizer kit - $1 per day
DigiView video digitizer kit - $2 per day
A variety of Amiga specific videotapes are also available.

Disk Sales

MAG library and Fred FISH disks are $2 - members ($5 -
nonmembers)
Quality blank disks with labels are $.75 - members ($1 - nonmembers)
For all this and more contact club Librarian Bill
Bowers at (901) 360-0003 or see Bill at the next meeting.

Memphis Amiga Group Officers for 1990

President
Todd Rooks
(901) 373-0198

Vice President
Brian Akey
(901) 278-3654

Secretary & Treasurer
Raymond Ginn
(901) 353-4504

Librarian
Bill Bowers
(901) 360-0003

MAGazine Editor
Charles Williams
(501) 655-8777

MAGazine Advertisement Prices

Full Page Ad

$25

Half Page Ad

$15

1/4 Page Ad

$10

MAG members may place classified ADS in the newsletter at no
charge.

MAG CLASSIFIED ADS

FOR SALE

PageStream 2.0 with all disks and manual; also includes 2 extra PageStream
font disks - $75.

Action Replay cartridge, as advertised in AmigaWorld and
other Amiga magazines. Only $45. For details call Ken Winfield at (901)
382-3339.

New Fish Disks

DISK 371

Fractals A Fractal generator that generates many
different types of fractals based on the iteration of complex-valued
formulas. LockDevice A package to protect filing devices
from being accidentally formatted. Port2 Sample C programs
showing how to control a mouse connected to the second mouse/joystick port.
PPLib A shared, runtime library to aid in the development of
programs that need to decrunch files crunched with Power-Packer.
PPMore A "more" replacement program that reads normal ascii
text files as well files crunched with Power-Packer. PPShow
A "show" program for normal IFF ILBM files or ILBM files crunched with
Power-Packer. PPType A "print" program that will print
normal ascii files or files crunched with Power-Packer.

DISK 372

Magnetic Pages A software package that allows you to
create and display a disk-based magazine. Features a full intuition driven
interface. PLW Phone-Line-Watcher. For users of Hayes
compatible modems. Monitors the serial port and records all incoming calls.
Allows a remote user to login, receive and leave a message, and transfer
files via Zmodem in either direction. RemapIcon A utility to
remap icons to be exchanged between Kickstart 2.0 and Kickstart 1.2/1.3
Workbench environments.

DISK 374

IPDevice A pipe-like DOS device the passes data
immediately rather than waiting until buffer is full. Mat A
comprehensive String-Search/Pattern-Match Utility for both text files and
directories. PopArt Intuition based image data generator and
animator. SoftSpan Soft Span BBS program.

DISK 375

BI A brush to C code image converter.
CardMaker A programmer's aid for creating card image data
that can be used in any card game that uses the standard 52 card deck.
ParM Parameterable Menu. ParM allows you to build menus
to run programs in either the CLI or WorkBench environment.
TextPlus A word processor for the Amiga, with both German
and English versions.

DISK 376

AztecArp An Arp package fixed to work with the 5.0
release of the Aztec 'C' compiler. Matrix Solves systems of
linear equations. Plotter A two-dimensional mathematical
function plotting program. ToolLibrary A shared library for
the Amiga. Contains some mathematical (evaluation of strings) and Intuition
(menus, requester) functions.

DISK 377

AnsiRead2 Bridges the gap between IBM and Amiga ANSI by
displaying IBM ANSI text and graphic animations (as usually captured from
bulletin boards) in their full intended colors and motion.
Formatter A disk formatting program with an intuition
interface which supports write verification, disk installation, fast
formatting and automatic start. Icon2C A simple tool to turn
any Workbench icon file into 'C' sourcecode. IE An icon
editor which can create and modify icons up to 640x200 pixels in size (also
dual render). IntuitionEd Intuition based utility that
creates C source code for screen, window, border and text structures.
PowerLOGO An experimental programming language based on
Lisp and LOGO.

DISK 378

Adapt CLI utility that converts special German characters
in files imported from MS-DOS systems intor the right Amiga codes.
ANSI-Master ANSI editor that provides the full IBM font set
and color capability. DevRen A DEVice RENamer, originally
designed to allow the renaming of an external drive on an A2000 (always
recognized as DF2:) to be DF1:. JoyLib Both a linktime
version and a shared library of Joystick routines. MachIII A
"mouse accelerator" program that also includes hotkeys, the features of sun
mouse, clicktofront, popcli, title bar clock with a bbs online charge
accumulator, Arexx support and much more. MuchMore Another
program like "more", "less", "pg", etc. MuchMorePoPa
Extended version of MuchMore V2.7. Displays texts that have been packed with
PowerPacker. Observer Working example for a Lattice
LSR-program. Opens a small window and displays volume names of all inserted
disks (DFO: through DF3:). TheGuru A program to bring the
Guru back into Kickstart 2.0.

DISK 379

Append CLI utility that allows you to directly append one
or more files to another. FileEncrypt Another intuition
based file encryptor. LLSort Replacement for the AmigaDOS
SORT command. TheA64Package A comprehensive emulator/utility
package. According to the author, this package compares to or surpasses the
commercially available packages of the same nature. Many of the utilities
require a hardware interface that allow the Amiga to access C64 peripherals
such as disk drives and printers. The hardware interface is free with a
shareware donation to the author. Xnum A useful CLI
conversion utility that takes a decimal, binary, octal or hex number as input
and displays the number in all four formats. Yawn! A small
WorkBench sliding block puzzle.

DISK 380

Video Special Interest Group Report

by Brian Akey
vice president & SIG coordinator

I have recently found out that we have a new Amiga dealer in town. Pro
Video has been selling high end video equipment for year and now they are
going to carry the whole Amiga line. They are set up as a VAR dealer (Value
Added Retailer). They are expecting to be a full service center and
educational dealer. Since they are a VAR dealer they will mainly be selling
solutions. An example of a solution will be a Amiga 2500 with monitor, Video
Toaster, cameras, and various software. I talked to John Cox as Pro Video
and he said he would like to help the user group by offering discounts and
they would like to host some of the meetings. If any one would like to talk
to they, Pro Video is located on Poplar close to East High School. The Amiga
is being sold in Software Etc. stores, McDuffs, Compterlab, and now Pro
Video.

Pro Video hosted the october Video SIG meeting. The meeting was helf at
Pro Video on Friday the 19th of October at 7:00 PM. They had a Amiga 2500
with a Magni Genlock for use that night. The meeting was on Raytracing.

For the artists in the group, AmigaWorld is having a graphics contest.
Amiga Resource is now combined into Compute. Compute will pay for the
Artwork and Programs that are published in the magazine each month. Info
magazine is now monthly and they have dropped all other Commodore news except
for Amiga news.

There is a new version of PageRender 3D out; version 2.0. Dougs Math
Aquarium has a new name and a new version; it is now called MathVISION and is
going to retail for $197.00, but for people with Doug's Math Aquarium,
MathVISION will be a $30.00 upgrade. Impulse is getting ready to release
Imagine. Imagine is a completely new 3D raytracing program that was
developed from all the suggestions from Turbo Silver. If you have any
questions call me at 278-6354.

Memory Expansion

I was recently looking for a way of adding 2 megabytes of memory to my
Amiga 500 and here is what I found out. There are basically two types of
memory expansion. The first type is the A501 replacement; it uses the trap
door port for expansion from 2 to 8 Meg. There are a few problems. It
requires a circuit board to be fitted under the gary chip. Pulling chips is
no fun. Some expansion cards only require you do this when you need over 2
Meg. The board itself is connected to the Chip Memory bus. If the computer
is doing fancy animation or overscan your speed will not be as high as if you
have true Fast memory (memory of the external expansion port). The other
problem is that the memory has to be fitted into memory locations that the
Amiga 500 was not designed for. You can have 8 Meg of expansion but your
biggest block of memory will be no bigger than 2 Meg. This is the biggest
problem since I do animation work and you need as big a block of memory. So
even if you have 8 Meg of expansion you can only have a 2 meg animation. The
other memory expansion is the external type. The usual way of getting this
type is by buying a hard drive interface. I did find one company, BriWall
that will sell either Xetec Fasttrak with FastRam or IVS with Meta4. Both
types can be purchased without the hard drive interface. The IVS board can
only go to 4 Meg while the Xetec can go up to 8 Meg. Both are true fast
memory. For a small price both can be upgraded which the hard drive
controller and you have a complete system. I am running an Amiga 500 with 2
disk drives and the Xetec FastRam with 2 Meg installed. It works great so
far and I can't wait until I have enough money to buy a Hard Drive. If I get
a chance I will bring it to the meeting.

MAGmembers Newsletter Insert

LAST NAME

FIRST NAME

CITY

ST

ZIP

EXPIRE

Akey

Brian L.

Memphis

TN

38107

OCT 91

Amos

Mike

Bartlett

TN

38134

JUL 91

Andrews

Freddie L.

Memphis

TN

38128

MAY 90

Bilson

Edward

Memphis

TN

38115

JAN 91

Bowers

William

Memphis

TN

38118

MAY 91

Brown

Scott

Memphis

TN

38122

APR 91

Buford

Tim

Grenada

MS

38901

FEB 91

Campbell

Terry A.

Horn Lake

MS

38637

AUG 90

Cervetti

Michael

Cordova

TN

38018

AUG 90

Chiego

John & Sara

Memphis

TN

38119

OCT 91

Clark

Bonnie

Memphis

TN

38128

AUG 91

Coffman

Shane

Cordova

TN

38018

MAR 90

Corbin

Jack

Memphis

TN

38133

APR 91

Crighton Jr.

Robert

Millington

TN

38053

APR 91

Dahms

Michael K.

Memphis

TN

38127

OCT 91

Data

Erming

Malmo, Sweden

DEC 90

Davenport

Marshall

Memphis

TN

38127

OCT 90

Davis

Montie

Memphis

TN

38104

AUG 90

Davis

Ray

Memphis

TN

38128

APR 90

Deschamps

Joseph

Jackson

TN

38305

SEP 91

Dickey

Milton E.

Memphis

TN

38118

NOV 90

Dobson

Michael

Memphis

TN

38118

NOV 90

Doss

Leonard & Mary Ann

Memphis

TN

38119

AUG 90

Echols

Steve

Memphis

TN

38116

DEC 90

Franklin

Shelley

Memphis

TN

38120

MAR 91

Gamble

Stephen A.

Memphis

TN

38111

OCT 91

Ginn

Raymond

Memphis

TN

38127

DEC 91

Golf

Robert

Memphis

TN

38134

FEB 91

Gray

Bobby,Vickie,Terri

Brighton

TN

38011

MAY 90

Grimes

Tim

McLemoresville

TN

38235

NOV 90

Henson

Tim

Memphis

TN

38128

OCT 91

Hoffman

Dr. Walter K.

Memphis

TN

38122

AUG 90

Hooker

Bill

Memphis

TN

38134

NOV 90

Hudson

Scott

Memphis

TN

38115

JUN 91

Jennings

Ron

Carson

CA

90746

MAY 90

Johnson

Richard

Havelock

NC

28532

SEP 90

Jones

Tom

Memphis

TN

38128

AUG 90

Kane

Brian

Memphis

TN

38128

APR 90

Karpov

Victor

Memphis

TN

38115

OCT 91

Kelly

James

Memphis

TN

38127

JUN 91

King

Guy O., Jr.

Collierville

TN

38017

DEC 90

Kiss

John & Sean

Memphis

TN

38118

FEB 91

Lambert

David

Memphis

TN

38128

MAR 91

Limer

Walter E.

Milington

TN

38053

MAR 90

Lockard

Don

Alamo

TN

38001

AUG 90

Lowder

Mike

Memphis

TN

38118

JUN 90

Lownes

Robert

Bartlett

TN

38133

OCT 91

Lyons

Sammie P.

Memphis

TN

38119

SEP 90

McCalla

Ron & Audrey

Hoover

AL

35226

DEC 99

McInturff

Ace

Memphis

TN

38115

NOV 90

Mills

Chris

AUG 91

Moore

Calvin B.

Memphis

TN

38118

JUN 90

Morgan

Yvonne & Charles

Memphis

TN

38168

SEP 91

Morris

Eugene

West Memphis

AR

72301

APR 90

Nabors

Eddie

Batesville

MS

38606

SEP 91

Norman

Joe R.

Dyersburg

TN

38024

JAN 91

Parker

Anthony

MAR 91

Piraino

Martin & Patricia

Memphis

TN

38134

AUG 91

Pittman

James

MAR 91

Plunk

David G.

Memphis

TN

JUL 91

Richardson

Charles

Memphis

TN

38128

APR 91

Rooks

Todd

Memphis

TN

38134

MAY 90

Russell

Shane

Memphis

TN

38134

JUL 91

Sanders

Joe

Memphis

TN

38134

DEC 90

Smart

Timothy G.

Memphis

TN

38104

JUN 90

Spain

David

MAY 91

Stevens

Bill

Memphis

TN

38115

JUN 90

Stevens

Ken

Millington

TN

38053

MAY 91

Swilley

Robert

Memphis

TN

38134

OCT 91

Thornton

Earnest L.

Memphis

TN

38134

AUG 90

Vineyard

Charles W.

Memphis

TN

38118

AUG 90

Wallace

Michael S.

Marion

AR

72364

SEP 90

Walp

Len

Memphis

TN

38128

JAN 91

Waters

Bob

Memphis

TN

38116

NOV 90

Weatherall

Broadus & JoAnne

Memphis

TN

38111

JAN 91

Williams

Charles

Wilson

AR

72395

AUG 91

Willis

Mark

Bartlett

TN

38135

APR 90

Winfield

Kenneth

Memphis

TN

38128

DEC 90

Yarbrough

Eddie

Southaven

MS

38671

APR 91

After going over past newsletters and speaking with Raymond Ginn, our
secretary and treasurer, I have pieced together the above membership list.
I'm afraid that there will be errors in it and I enlist your help in getting
everything correct. As our past newsletter editor has vanished without a
trace, there are some gaps. Please let me know if you can help fill in any
of the gaps on this list OR if I made any mistakes in the information that
is listed. Pay particular attention to the expiration dates. I will begin to
delete delinquent memberships after the November meeting.